"The deeper meaning of music lies in the feeling it evokes when you hear it." What Leonard Bernstein says about music can easily be applied to Todd Field's film "Tár": the deeper meaning lies in the images and sounds, the dialogue and facial expressions and not least in Cate Blanchett's performance as the world-famous conductor Lydia Tár. Her entry into the city is triumphant when she takes over as conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. But with success comes hubris. What follows is a two-and-a-half-hour masterful case through the keyboard of human emotions.

Nina Hoss

Even if Nina Hoss only plays second fiddle as an actress, "Tár" is proof that she is one of the greats in her field. born in Stuttgart in 1975, the trained actress became an audience favourite in Germany in 2006 as the "White Maasai". Hoss celebrated her first international successes at major film festivals as the leading actress in Christian Petzold's films, with "Yella" (2007), "Barbara" (2012) at the Berlinale and with "Jerichow" in Venice in 2009. Her leading role in three seasons of the series "Homeland" has made Hoss a globally recognised star.

Last year, Sisi was already haunting the media in various guises, be it as a pretty serial heroine ("Sisi"), femme fatale ("Corsage") or rebellious horsewoman in Karen Duve's novel ("Sisi"). However, none of these versions is as far removed from the former kitsch icon as the severely eating disordered, moody, sociophobic and highly entertaining empress in "Sisi + I". Director Frauke Finsterwalder describes Elisabeth's (Susanne Wolff) tightrope walk between tradition and modernity from the perspective of the rather amorous court lady Irma Sztáray (Sandra Hüller).

Frauke Finsterwalder

The name says it all. At least in the first feature film by director Frauke Finsterwalder, who was born in Hamburg in 1975, things are pretty dark. In "Finsterworld", she uses a large cast (including Sandra Hüller and Corinna Harfouch) to make people of all ages and classes poke fun at the unthinking behaviour of others. She wrote the highly revealing dialogue together with her husband, the Swiss writer Christian Kracht ("Imperium", 2012). A collaboration that once again proves its worth in Finsterwalder's second feature film, "Sisi & ich".

In 1966, Sergio Corbucci's "Django" added a new twist to the western genre. In addition to the legally brutal violence motivated by sadistic motives and the dry irony of the dialogue, Django's dramatic fight against the authorities always had a social and societal component. The Italian writing team Fasoli/Ravagli ("Gomorrah") has spun the story of the notorious gunslinger further and brought it into the 21st century: for 10 episodes, Django (Matthias Schoenaerts) searches for his lost daughter and also comes across a city built by freed slaves called "New Babylon".